I've seen a new, bigscreen version of 'Cleopatra' mooted for years now, and most recently Angelina Jolie has been attached to it (though I think she's now too old to play a young Cleopatra, she could portray the older version). Has anyone heard anything about this? Also, what do you all think of the proposed casting? I think she's a decent enough choice (though probably too beautiful), but there are better actresses who could do justice to the role, and it would be nice to see a more accurate looking Cleopatra on screen. Any suggestions?

Chasing Shadows

08-03-2013 16:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by woot_whoo
(Post 64665082)

Also, what do you all think of the proposed casting? I think she's a decent enough choice (though probably too beautiful)

Wasn't Cleopatra considered a great beauty - one of the reasons why both Caesar and Marc Antony fell for her? So why would Angelina Jolie be considered too beautiful to play her?

True, we've no lifelike portraits of her to see what she really looked like, only a bust and statues made in the traditional Egyptian way which makes everybody, male or female, pharoah or slave, look pretty much the same as everybody else, but there must have been some reason for the tales of her great beauty to have arisen.

Angelina Jolie has had her time in the sun, she's too smug to be taken seriously as an actress. Too many bad movies and far too much press.

woot_whoo

08-03-2013 17:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chasing Shadows
(Post 64665646)

Wasn't Cleopatra considered a great beauty - one of the reasons why both Caesar and Marc Antony fell for her? So why would Angelina Jolie be considered too beautiful to play her?

True, we've no lifelike portraits of her to see what she really looked like, only a bust and statues made in the traditional Egyptian way which makes everybody, male or female, pharoah or slave, look pretty much the same as everybody else, but there must have been some reason for the tales of her great beauty to have arisen.

Funnily enough, she wasn't considered a great beauty at the time. Contemporary descriptions attest to the fact that she wasn't beautiful but was possessed of great charm, intelligence, wit and a honeyed speaking voice. Of course, such charisma is difficult to portray on the screen in the confines of a two-hour movie, so I don't mind them casting a beauty to get across her allure. Some of the artwork depicting her (especially coins) show her to be quite ugly with a very hooked nose and mannish profile, but who's to say how accurate they are. I reckon they'll show her as the traditional 'Egyptian' female, though. In reality she only wore Egyptian garb for ceremonial purposes and otherwise is assumed to have dressed and looked like her fellow Hellenistic contemporaries (which the bust shows).